Plastic carrier package

ABSTRACT

This invention comprises a carrier for transporting a plurality of regularly shaped articles in a package or &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;pack.&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; The carrier-package comprises an unoriented thermoplastic web having complementary sections thermoformed therein for over-laying the shaped article and interengaging the side of the shaped article to maintain the article in a configuration convenient for transporting. The thermoplastic web material in the complementary sections is oriented by the forming process and can be shrunk tightly around the article. Preferably, a channel is formed in said sections to permit release of trapped air when said articles are placed in said sections.

United States Patent [1 1 Dreyfus 1 July 10, 1973 PLASTIC CARRIER PACKAGE Robert L.Dreytus, Greenville, SC.

Assignee: W. R. Grace & Co., Duncan, SC.

Filed: Aug. 27, 1971 Appl. No.: 175,534

Inventor:

7 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1959 Heyl et a1. 215/38 A 8/1956 Caner 215/38 A 3,322,293 5/1967 Lynn et al 220/44 R 3,126,680 3/1964 Baird, Jr. et al. 229/D1G. 12

3,212,635 10/1965 Dreyfus et a1. 206/65 S 3,200,944

8/1965 Rapata....'. 206/65 C [57] ABSTRACT This invention comprises a carrier for transporting a plurality of regularly shaped articles in a package or pack. The carrier-package comprises an unoriented thermoplastic web having complementary sections thermoformed therein for over-laying the shaped article and interengaging the side of the shaped article to maintain the article in a configuration convenient for transporting. The thermoplastic web material in the complementary sections is oriented by the forming process and can be shrunk tightly around the article. Preferably, a channel is formed in said sections to permit release of trapped air when said articles are placed in said sections. a

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED 3144.626

I SHEET 1 (If 3 PATENTEUJUL 1 01915 FIG. 4 b

SHET 2 BF 3 FIG. 3

FIG. 4a

cans to keep them clean.

- PLASTIC CARRIER PACKAGE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a carrier-packaging device for a plurality of shaped articles. The device forms both the package and the carrier. Further, the device in a variant of the present invention forms a protective shielding for more fragile shaped articles which are to be transported.

lt is now common practice to package products in new and different shaped containers. There is a constant search for the use of a container of a unique shape so that the packaged product will become identified with that container shape. The carrier-package of the present invention is adaptable for use with containers having a variety of shapes. Further, this carrierpackage can be used with any container material, and where the containers are fragile, the package is readily adapted to provide protective shielding for the containers.

While this invention is particularly adapted to carrying and packaging device for two or more of the most common type cylindrical containers, it is not limited thereto, and is of equal utility for headless as well as beaded containers, extruded aluminum containers, glass bottles, paperboard containers and plastic containers; of a cylindrical shape or otherwise.

The older packaging practice of using paper or pasteboard packaging devices has gradually been yielding to plastic devices. The paper and pasteboard devices are bulky,-eitpensive and require complicated machinery. Further, these paper and pasteboard devices are subject to disintegration when disposed in high humidity areas or in cold water for cooling. The use of plastic carrier-packaging devices has overcome these disadvantages. However, up until the present invention, the plastic packaging devices have been most successful with beaded cylindrical metal cans. One carrierpackaging device comprises a thermosplastic material having a plurality of pockets, each pocket having an undercut or annular recess to receive the bead of the container. Non-beaded containers would readily fall from these carrier-packaging devices under normal handling. These devices are well illustrated in U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,224,576, 3,341,005 and 3,355,013.

Another carrier-packaging device is the type using bands or loops of plastic material in which the loops encircle the container immediately beneath the beads or chimes. This carrier is restricted to a cylindrical container and does not cover the tops of the containers or The present invention overcomes these disadvan tages by not depending on a beaded edge to supply the holding force. In the present invention, the entire side walls enveloped by the oriented sections of carrierpackage device serve to maintain the containers in the carrying-package device. For this reason, non-beaded and non-cylindrical shaped containers can readily be packaged and carried using the present invention.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device for holding a plurality of shaped containers.

It is further an object of this invention to provide a carrier-packaging device which shields the carried containers from contact with one another and from foreign objects.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a carrier-package useful for transporting non-beaded containers of varying shapes.

It is further an object of this invention to provide a carrier-package wherein the full sidewall of the shaped containers enveloped by the carrier-package device maintains the containers within the device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention comprises a carrierpackage device formed from material having an elastic memory containing a plurality of openings for receiving shaped articles, said articles being gripped on a side or sides by the elasticity of the walls of said openings. The material comprising the walls is stretched or oriented while the remainder of the material is substantially unoriented. Preferably, a channel is provided in the walls to permit the release of air when an article is inserted in the opening. Any formable material having an elastic memory can be used and preferred materials are the thermoplastics which include, but are not limited to, the polymers, copolymers, homopolymers, block and graph polymers of ethylene, propylene, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, and amides.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. I sets out a prespective view of the carrierpackaging using cylindrical containers. Other shapes of containers can be used as is shown in other figures. The container can be separated from the carrier by gripping the container and pulling it from the carrier with or without a twisting motion. The force required is not excessive, but it is greater than the containers will sense during normal transport.

More specifically, FIG. 1 sets out containers 10 with a carrier-package composed of' web 16, handle 15 and pockets 12, with pocket top 14 and pocket walls or sides 13. The pockets are an integral part of the web, molded as one piece with the web. The pocket sides 13 extenddown the sides of the container to grip the side of the container with an elastic force or pressure. The

handle 15 is here anextendible member from web 16 through web opening 22. The web and pocket material may be of any elastic memory thermoplastic material. The handle 15 may also be of the same material as the web and pocket, or of any other material capable of holding the weightof the filled carrier-package device.

By elastic memory thermoplastic material is meant any material which can be stretched, and which can subsequently be relaxed to essentially its original condition. This type of memory is exhibited by thermoplastics which in the range of their melt condition are stretched to greater dimensions, but which in any subsequent sensing of this temperature range will shrink to essentially their original condition. Particularly suitable are the heat shrinkable thermoplastics such as crosslinked polyolefins, and especially those crosslinked by irradiation. A particularly useful species is irradiatively crosslinked polyethylene. Other useful materials are polypropylene and polyvinylchloride.

FIG. 2 sets out a top plan view of essentially the carrier of FIG. I, but one which has finger receiving apertures 17 in place of the handle 15. These apertures are preferably of an open type so that the fingers of the person carrying the package can grip the underside of web 16. The pockets 12 are here holding containers in the same manner as in FIG. 1. However, in the view of FIG. 2, containers 10 are not readily distinguishable as the perimeter of the containers coincides with the perimeter of the pockets.

The choice of the pocket opening area in its original relaxed condition and in its stretched gripping condition is a critical feature of the present invention. It is preferred that the original relaxed pocket opening are be slightly smaller than the inserting area of the container, the exact area varying with the pocket sidewall thickness and with the elasticity of the material being used. The sidewall is preferably from 10 mil to 30 mil.

In operation, a series of containers are held in a position aligned with the receiving pockets in the carrier web. The pocket openings are stretched and the entire web andplurality of pockets are pulled down over the containers to be held. The pocket-stretching force is then removed, and the pocket sidewalls 13 come into an intimate contact with the sides of the containers and hold them in this set position. Heat may be now applied to the sidewalls to relax their orientation and further increase their grip on the containers. Vibration and other transport forces will not cause accidental separation of the containers from the pockets.

FIG. 3 sets out a view of two containers 10 within pockets 12 held by web 16. Only two containers are shown for simplicity and six, twelve or more may be held by the web. In this embodiment, the pockets 12 also have apertures 18 in the sidewall 13 of the pockets. These apertures 18 are depicted as circular; but they may be of any other shape. The function of these holes is to relieve any trapped air as the container is inserted into the pocket. These apertures are preferably near the top of the pocket, and may operably be on the top or on the sidewall within one-half inch of the pocket top 14. 1

FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) disclose an preferred means for relieving trapped air from the receiving pocket when a container 10 is inserted. In this embodiment, the sidewall 13 of the pocket 12 contains a side channel 19 which communicates with the top of the pocket and the exterior atmosphere. FIG. 4 (a) shows this channel 19 after a container has been inserted, and FIG. 4 (b) shows this channel as a thickened section after the channel has been heat shrunken. A thermoplastic film preferred for this embodiment is crosslinked polyethylene which is heat shrinkable when oriented by stretching. On the application of heat to the channel area, the channel shrinks, maintaining the elasticity of the pocket sidewall.

FIG. 5 illustrates some of the various shapes of con- 'tainers which can be packaged and carried using the present invention. These may be of the easy grip type, or just ornately shaped to further distinguish a product.

The carrier-package is conveniently produced by elther a pressure or vacuum forming technique. The bandle can also be formed in this same operation when it consists of gripping apertures in the web. When it consists of a handle extending above the web, the holes 22 in the web for this handle are produced in this operation and the handle piece assembled into the web in a second operation. For the procedure of assembling containers into this carrier-package, this can be accomplished either by hand or by use of a machine. In either procedure, the pocket openings are stretched while the web and pockets are, by means of suitable force extended over, enveloping part of the containers. This pocket can envelope from roughly 10 to percent of the surface area of the containers, depending on the shape, weight, fragility and other characteristics of the containers.

I claim: 1

l. A carrier-packaging device for shaped articles comprising in combination:

. a. a plurality of articles, each article having a top surface with a sidewall surface generally perpendicular to said top surface; and,

b. an integral web having a plurality of articlereceiving pockets formed therein, each pocket being oriented material which elastically grips the sidewalls of and retains each of said articles, the remainder of said web being substantially unoriented.

2. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 1 wherein associated with each pocket is a side channel for relieving trapped. air when an article is inserted into said pocket.

. 3. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 2 wherein said channel is heat shrinkable. I

4. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 1 wherein the web contains at least one handle means.

5. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 4 wherein said handle means consists of finger-accepting holes in said web.

6. A method of packaging articles having a top surface with a sidewall surface generally perpendicular to said top surface comprising the steps of:

a. forming a plurality of oriented pockets in a web of thermoplastic, orientable material;

b. inserting a portion of an article in each of said pockets; and, thereafter,

0. at least partially releasing the orientation of each of said pockets whereby the sidewall of the inserted portion of each article is tightly gripped by the pocket walls.

7. The method of claim 6 whereby the thermoplastic material is cross-linked polyethylene; the material is stretched to form the oriented pockets; and, the orientation is at least partially released by heating the pockets.

8. A method of packaging articles in a carrier package comprising:

a. forming a plurality of pockets with heat-shrinkable side channel in a web of thermoplastic material; b. inserting at least a portion of an article in each of said pockets; and c. applying heat to said channels to shrink same. 9. The method of claim 8 including the step of applying heat to each of said pockets to shrink same tightly about each article. 

1. A carrier-packaging device for shaped articles comprising in combination: a. a plurality of articles, each article having a top surface with a sidewall surface generally perpendicular to said top surface; and, b. an integral web having a plurality of article-receiving pockets formed therein, each pocket being oriented material which elastically grips the sidewalls of and retains each of said articles, the remainder of said web being substantially unoriented.
 2. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 1 wherein associated with each pocket is a side channel for relieving trapped air when an article is inserted into said pocket.
 3. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 2 wherein said channel is heat shrinkable.
 4. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 1 wherein the web contains at least one handle means.
 5. A carrier-packaging device as in claim 4 wherein said handle means consists of finger-accepting holes in said web.
 6. A method of packaging articles having a top surface with a sidewall surface generally perpendicular to said top surface comprising the steps of: a. forming a plurality of oriented pockets in a web of thermoplastic, orientable material; b. inserting a portion of an article in each of said pockets; and, thereafter, c. at least partially releasing the orientation of each of said pockets whereby the sidewall of the inserted portion of each article is tightly gripped by the pocket walls.
 7. The method of claim 6 whereby the thermoplastic material is cross-linked polyethylene; the material is stretched to form the oriented pockets; and, the orientation is at least partially released by heating the pockets.
 8. A method of packaging articles in a carrier package comprising: a. forming a plurality of pockets with heat-shrinkable side channel in a web of thermoplastic material; b. inserting at least a portion of an article in each of said pockets; and c. applying heat to said channels to shrink same.
 9. The method of claim 8 including the step of applying heat to each of said pockets to shrink same tightly about each article. 